Solana Beach church steps up expansion project

Twin boys, Drew, left, and Will Cavaniss, 5, get their hands on shovels and turn a little earth during a ground breaking ceremony for a 2-story, 16,000 square-foot children&apos;s ministry building Sunday at the Solana Beach Presbyterian Church.

Twin boys, Drew, left, and Will Cavaniss, 5, get their hands on shovels and turn a little earth during a ground breaking ceremony for a 2-story, 16,000 square-foot children's ministry building Sunday at the Solana Beach Presbyterian Church.

The second phase of a $12 million improvement project at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church gets under way this week, with old buildings torn down to make way for a new chapel, children’s building and play areas.

The work at the more than 50-year-old church will include a multipurpose meeting space and parking lot. A “grand lawn” will be created in front of the church sanctuary so there’s more play space and gathering space for kids and families.

Construction is expected to take up to one year and involve removing old preschool buildings, a children’s building and an office building on the upper campus. Church services will be relocated to the fellowship hall on the upper campus for the duration of the project.

The first phase of construction, which began a year ago and was completed in the fall, revamped the lower campus of the church and included relocating the church preschool, building a new playground, and adding a chapel for the Spanish speaking congregation.

Doug Peterson, director of media and communications at the church, said the preschool was previously located on the interior of the campus and was moved to a more prominent location on the corner of San Rodolfo Drive and Stevens Avenue.

The new preschool, which is 15 percent larger than the previous one, opened in September and immediately filled to capacity with 275 children.

Peterson said many of the upgrades were designed to provide worshippers with easier access to the church. He said the new location of the preschool makes it easier for parents to drop off and pick up their kids.

The new parking lot on the upper campus will be in the shape of a ring that will circle around the entire upper campus.

“It’s safer and more accessible so you can park closer to where you need to go,” Peterson said.

He said the church first began looking into doing renovations in 2008 and put together a team to evaluate the campus and draw up plans. That team presented the plans to the 1,000-member congregation in 2010 and the project moved forward.

To pay for the work, the congregation has held two fundraising campaigns, but hasn’t yet reached its $12 million goal.

Peterson said a congregational meeting was held in January to vote on whether the project should continue as planned or be modified while additional funding is secured.

He said the congregation’s response was “overwhelmingly positive” to move forward with the plans as presented.

“People are excited about having new facilities for families and children,” he said. “They didn’t want to lose sight on one of our major goals of being multigenerational and welcoming the next generation to join us and grow with us.”